Friday, September 05, 2008

Who Says Men won't Support a Strong Woman?

She earns positive reviews from 65% of men and 52% of women. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows that Obama continues to lead McCain among women voters while McCain leads among men. The Friday morning update—the first to include interviews conducted after Palin’s speech--showed the beginning of a Republican convention bounce that may match Obama’s bounce from last week.

I can't say that I'm surprised. I heard over and over during the Hillary and Obama race from people that "men just won't vote for a strong woman." Well, that's a myth. They just won't vote for the wrong woman.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Another one bites the dust....

In what seems to be the ongoing Young Curmudgeon series, I explain why I can no longer maintain my American Psychological Association membership without losing self-respect: the APA seems more interested in shaping national politics than offering practical resources to a lowly clinician like myself.

Their recent stance on global warming is the last straw for this little shrink. The APA is out to change your behavior whether you like it or not. They are, like, more smarter than you and stuff.

I am right there with you Iron Shrink, having left the APA this year after being a member for 14 years. But unlike you (yes, I realize you are being tongue-in-cheek), I do not find the APA's behavior smart in any way. They have spent their time alienating many clinicians who do not toe their party line and seem frankly, stuck in a 60's time warp. Hardly sounds like intelligence to me.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

"Who are the feminists again?"

Sarah Palin has set off a new round of political fisticuffs in the “Mommy Wars” and in the Culture Wars. How could a newcomer and her pregnant teenage daughter do all that in a mere six days on the national scene?

Perhaps it was inevitable that any woman selected, that is — any woman selected on a Republican ticket — would be subjected to inquiries about how she is going to manage domestic responsibilities.

Five kids of her own and a grandchild on the way simply provided the pretext for the media’s new found attention for a candidate’s familial responsibilities. How is Barack Obama attending to his young daughters? No one would dream to ask. But the McCain-Palin team is getting grilled on just this topic.

Columnists in the mainstream media, who ordinarily would not dare to question the premise that mothers should be able to work and aspire to successful careers, are now the parental police,...

If Palin were a Democrat, we would not be having this national conversation about her children, her ability to mother and the other dirt that the MSM is flinging against her. Instead, the media would hail her as a hero, a role model for young girls and beyond reproach. The hypocrisy is staggering.

Update: Katie Granju points out that not all liberals and feminists are using double standards in the Palin case: "So Dr. Helen (and all you other conservative bloggers and pundits), please don't make such sweeping generalizations about how "liberals" and "feminists" are using a double standard when it comes to Sarah Palin as mother and candidate. I challenge you to recognize that there are a lot of us - myself included - who may not plan to vote for Sarah Palin, but who will certainly cheer her trailblazing political path as a great step forward for ALL women - and especially for working mothers."

Monday, September 01, 2008

Is College Worth It?

What about students who are prepared for college? First, only 40 percent of each year's 2 million freshmen graduate in four years; 45 percent never graduate at all. Often, having a college degree does not mean much. According to a 2006 Pew Charitable Trusts study, 50 percent of college seniors failed a test that required them to interpret a table about exercise and blood pressure, understand the arguments of newspaper editorials, and compare credit card offers. About 20 percent of college seniors did not have the quantitative skills to estimate if their car had enough gas to get to the gas station. According to a recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy, the percentage of college graduates proficient in prose literacy has declined from 40 percent to 31 percent within the past decade. Employers report that many college graduates lack the basic skills of critical thinking, writing and problem-solving.

I was listening to the Suze Orman show the other day and one of the listeners called in to tell her that she and her husband both had graduate degrees but weren't making it as well as their friends who went into the trades. Apparently, this couple had $100,000 dollars in student loans and wanted to have children but felt unable to afford them. In their case, maybe advanced schooling wasn't worth it. I think it depends on what one's degree is in and what skills are learned there that translate into a real world job. It is getting more and more important to research thoroughly the degree one is going to get and if it is worth it in very practical terms.

I wish I had known more prior to choosing my field, for if I did, I would definitely not have gone into the field I chose. What about you?